


You're So Vain

by monroe_militia



Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Model!Bass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-26 13:06:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1689341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monroe_militia/pseuds/monroe_militia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU The power didn’t go out and Bass is a male model. Miles is his agent who has a love/hate friendship with him. When Miles’ niece Charlie starts coming to work with him, Bass takes a special interest in her and all of the challenges that come from her obvious immunity to his charms. Charloe</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Bass Monroe was not very happy about the idea of his manager's niece coming to work with them. Him and Miles had a good thing going and Bass didn't need some kid always walking around and messing everything up, especially if that kid was Rachel Matheson's daughter.

Today was the kid's first day, so to show Miles that he was still not on board with this idea whatsoever, when the alarm went off in the morning Bass just shut it off and rolled over before falling back asleep. Miles and his niece could wait. After all, wasn't getting your beauty sleep important for a model?

* * *

He woke up for a second time about an hour later to the sound of his phone ringing obnoxiously loudly. He made no effort to get up and after a few more rings the answering machine picked it up and Miles' voice sounded through the apartment.

"Bass, get your lazy ass out of bed. I really could not care less if you're still having your little temper tantrum about Charlie coming to work with me. If you aren't here in ten minutes, I will personally make you wish that you were never born."

He had to laugh a little at that.

"…I'm not kidding, Bass."

* * *

"…So your job is basically babysitting a grown man?" Charlie asked as Miles sighed loudly to himself while pocketing his cell phone.

"Pretty much, yeah," Miles agreed. "That's actually the most accurate description for it, actually."

A few more minutes passed and the photographer was getting more than a little aggravated over the fact that the model had yet to show up.

"Just give him five more minutes, he'll be here," Miles assured him.

"Fine. Five minutes, but one second over that and he may as well not show up at all."

Miles nodded and shot the photographer a weak smile. As soon as the other man turned to walk away, he ran a hand through his hair in exasperation as he repeated, mostly to himself, "He'll be here."

"Are you sure about that?" Charlie questioned. "I mean he's already over half an hour late. Is he always like this?"

"Not always. He usually isn't this late; he's just busy being a bit of a drama queen-"

As if that were his cue, Bass shoved the double doors of the entrance in and slowly walked through them.

He was decked out in a pair of jeans that cost more than most people's whole wardrobes did, a ridiculously overpriced black designer V- neck, his signature black leather jacket, and a pair of sunglasses which he removed and tucked into the neck of his shirt as he grinned across the room.

"I see what you mean about being a drama queen," Charlie responded with a smirk in her uncle's direction.

Bass headed straight towards where Miles was standing and blatantly looked Charlie up and down on his way over.

"So this is the niece?" He asked with a lopsided grin as he stopped in front of them. "Well I guess that she isn't a kid after all, is she Miles?" His gaze flickered over to his manager as he added on that last question.

Miles groaned loudly. Oh how he had been hoping that this wouldn't happen. This was why he had refrained from really giving Bass any information about Charlie. In fact, if he was being perfectly honest, Miles had been relieved when Bass had been so annoyed with the idea of Charlie coming to work with them.

"Just go get ready Bass," Miles said as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You're already so late that I was barely able to keep the shoot from getting cancelled."

Bass shrugged and shot one last lingering glance in Charlie's direction before he walked off.

* * *

Charlie very quickly found out that her job description basically entailed following Miles around and keeping him company while he complained about various things throughout the photo shoot. She wasn't overly far off in that assumption, since Miles mostly was just making work for her and figured that he would just give her odd jobs every once in a while so that she might not realize that he really did not need an assistant.

* * *

Later that day, after the shoot was over, Miles and Charlie were sitting in his office while he filled out paperwork and she repeatedly pointed out the fact that he should teach her how to fill out the paperwork for him instead of just having her as an assistant that does virtually nothing but stand around and watch him work.

"It's your first day on the job, kid. Don't be so eager," Miles told her. "Besides, you'd probably just mess the paperwork up."

"So then why am I even here?" Charlie questioned as she sat down on an empty corner of his desk.

"Because your mom was on your case about you being nineteen and not having a job and I'm the cool uncle," Miles responded with a slight grin.

"You're my only uncle," Charlie pointed out, swinging her legs back and forth as she spoke.

"Yeah, but why would you need another one when you've got me?" Miles questioned teasingly as he leaned back in his seat and dropped his pen back onto his desk.

Charlie was still stifling a laugh at that when Bass strolled into Miles' office with a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and a shirt which was definitely not the same one that he had started the day off in. This new shirt was a black button-up, although all of the buttons were undone and billowing out, with the sleeves rolled most of the way up his forearms.

As Charlie turned to look over her shoulder at him, Bass flopped down in the chair that was seated on the opposite side of the desk from Miles. His legs were splayed over Miles' just completed paperwork and closer to where Charlie was sitting than she might have preferred.

"Do you think that you could be, maybe a little less half-naked?" Miles questioned as he looked over at his friend.

"I'm a male model, it's pretty much my job to be half-naked," Bass retorted as he opened up the bottle. "Besides, I don't hear any complaints coming from Charlotte over here."

At that, Miles reached across the desk to grab the bottle away from Bass and take a long swig out of it.

"It's Charlie. And you also don't hear the oohing and ahhing from me that I'm sure you were hoping for," she responded, leaning her weight back on one arm as she rolled her eyes at him. "Or see the drooling that I'm so sure you've grown to expect."

Charlie's mom had warned her about Bass Monroe. Rachel had told her all about the conceited model who was nothing but bad news for all of those around him and so far he was just proving her right.

Miles grinned at Charlie's immunity to Bass's supposed charms, while Bass himself smirked a little in satisfaction. This could work… He liked a good challenge.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie had been working with Miles and Bass for about a week and it was becoming increasingly obvious that Charlie was not planning on giving into Bass's flirtation anytime soon.

Bass and Miles were going out one night and that gave Bass an idea as he watched Miles and Charlie turn and go their separate ways towards their cars. He began to quickly walk after Charlie and just managed to catch up with her as she reached her car.

Charlie groaned a little to herself as she caught his reflection in the window of her car before she reluctantly turned around and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What do you want?"

"I was just going to offer that, since you're under drinking age, I could get you into the club that me and Miles are going to tonight," Bass offered in his best tone of sheer indifference.

"Yeah and I'm sure that you're so generously offering this at the low, low price of nothing at all, right?" Charlie challenged.

A grin spread on Bass's lips and a chuckle escaped his throat. He was used to dumb girls practically falling over and fainting at the sight of him and there was something about Charlie's refusal to fawn over him that made her oh so appealing.

"Well there might be a small price," he responded with a casual shrug as his hands remained stuffed in the pockets of his leather jacket.

"If you say that it's sleeping with you, then I will punch you… In your face," Charlie warned him. "And we both know how much you care about your appearance. Somehow a model with a black eye doesn't seem like it would go over well."

Bass's smile only grew in size. "Actually, the only stipulation is that you have to admit that you find me attractive."

"Ooh, stipulation. That's a big word for a model, I thought that you were all supposed to be dumb," she teased.

"I guess not," he agreed.

"So how exactly do you think that you're magically going to get me into a club?" Charlie questioned.

"They know me there. If you walk in with me, no one is going to question whether you're allowed in or not," Bass responded. "I'll help you get in and not hit on you for the rest of the night. But first you have to admit that you find me attractive. And, honestly, if you claim that you don't even find me a little bit attractive then, well you know what they say about ladies who protest too much."

She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head in disbelief for a second before she said, "Fine. I find you attractive. But there is absolutely no way that I'm going to become one of your brain-dead one night stands."

With that she turned and opened her car's driver door. She stepped with one foot into the car before she turned to look at him over her shoulder and asked, "What time are you picking me up?"

Bass shot her a beaming grin that was bright enough to be used as a signal flare. "Be ready at eight."

* * *

Charlie was glad that Bass actually showed up on time instead of fashionably late, since it meant that her mother and Danny were still out and she wouldn't have to explain to Rachel why Bass was picking her up or make Danny cover for her.

* * *

Bass was right; no one tried to ID Charlie as she entered the club with him.

She went to go walk away from him once they were a few steps into the bar, but he quickly reached out and grabbed her arm before she could get too far away.

"Hold on a second."

"What?" Charlie asked in a dreading tone that might have been just a little bit over-exaggerated as she turned and looked down at where his hand was lightly gripping her just above the elbow.

"I think that someone owes me a thank you," Bass teased as he released his hold on her arm.

"Thanks," she forced out before a sly grin formed on her lips, "but I'm still not sleeping with you."

He let out a small chuckle that was quickly cut off by Miles' voice as the other man approached them.

"Come on, Bass, you brought Charlie?" He complained. "She's nineteen."

"Calm down Miles, what happened to you being the cool uncle?" Charlie questioned with a wide smirk as she twisted his words against her.

"Well I guess I'm still your only uncle," he twisted her words back at her in return.

"Funny," Charlie commented sarcastically. "Besides, don't you think it's a little hypocritical to point out the fact that I'm nineteen now when you practically encourage me to drink the rest of the time?"

It wasn't so much the fact that Charlie was at a club that bothered Miles; it was more the fact that she had come with Bass.

"I _practically_ encourage you to drink?" Miles questioned with a tilted smile. "Clearly I haven't been trying hard enough at my job as corrupting influence."

Charlie laughed a little and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her uncle before she walked away in the direction of the bar.

Bass watched her go until Miles abruptly dragged his attention away.

"Come on, Bass," Miles complained. "You could at least try a little bit of subtlety for once in your life… That's my niece whose ass you're ogling at as she walks away."

"Relax, Miles. There's no harm in just looking," Bass assured his friend.

"If it's just looking does that mean that you're going to stop hitting on her?" Miles questioned. "Come on, man. She's my niece which makes her strictly off-limits. You're forbidden from sleeping with her."

"Calm down, it's just been a bit of playful flirting," Bass told his friend. "Nothing's going to happen, it's not like I'm hung up on her… Besides, I'm more interested in that pair of twins over there. Twenty bucks says that I can get them to both come home with me."

* * *

Although Charlie had drank before, that had always been when she was at Miles' apartment or when he snuck her sips of his drink at family functions, so she had no idea what to order when the bartender asked her what she would like.

Fortunately her deer-in-the-headlights reaction didn't last long before the guy standing next to her smiled at her and then leaned across to the bartender and told him something that she couldn't hear.

A few moments later, the bartender was handing her a drink which the guy who had ordered it immediately paid for.

"Thanks," she told him before trying the drink and discovering that it was shockingly good.

* * *

"Hey Miles, Nora's here," Bass commented. "I forget. You two are off again, right?"

Miles rolled his eyes, "Yeah."

"Which means that you're going to go over there and talk to her, aren't you?" Bass questioned. "And get back together with her for about five minutes total before you two break up again."

"Shut up," Miles muttered under his breath before standing up and leaving his friend alone with the set of twins.

* * *

About an hour later, Bass was just getting up to leave with the pair when one of the twins questioned, "What's wrong with that girl?"

The girl's sister laughed a little before responding with, "I don't know."

Bass was curious, so he looked over only to find that Charlie was dancing on top of the bar, laughing and kicking glasses off of the counter. Bass watched as a guy that he had seen buying her drinks earlier turned and said something to his friends before they all started laughing and headed towards the exit, effectively abandoning Charlie.

Bass sighed internally as he looked around in the hope of spotting Miles.

"Hey, have either of you seen my friend?" Bass questioned.

"What, you mean your manager?" One of them asked. "He left with that girl he was talking to about half an hour ago, why?"

"Come on. I thought we were going," the other complained.

Bass raked a hand through his hair before making a decision that he knew he would probably end up regretting in the very near future.

"You two should find someone else to go home with," he told the pair.

"What?"

"You're kidding me, right?"

Bass muttered a weak apology under his breath before he quickly turned and headed over to where a still dancing Charlie was getting yelled at by the bartender. Bass silently assured himself that the only reason that he was passing up the chance at sleeping with twins was because Charlie was Miles' niece, not because he had feelings for her or was going soft.

As he reached Charlie, she spotted him and turned quickly enough that she almost slid off the counter and began to laugh. Bass quickly reached to grab her waist, keeping her from toppling off the bar-top as the bartender continued shouting at Charlie.

"What the hell do you think that you're doing?" The bartender demanded angrily.

"Calm down, we're leaving," Bass said before turning his attention back to the drunk girl. "Come on, Charlie."

Bass helped Charlie down as the bartender demanded, "What about all of the damage?"

The model reached into his back pocket and pulled out a couple of bills which he tossed at the bartender before turning away again.

"Okay, let's go drunk girl," he said as he turned back to Charlie and helped her while she half-danced, half-stumbled out of the club.

They barely made it out of the door before Charlie tripped over a crack in the cement and stumbled to the ground. As she sat up, she began clutching at her ankle in pain.

Bass knelt down and picked her up, placing one arm under her knees and the other under her back to help support her.

"You are such a light-weight, Charlie," Bass commented under his breath as he carried her over to his car.

Once they reached the car, he set her down and leaned her against the side while he opened the door and then helped her into the passenger seat. After he had gotten her into the car, he knelt down outside of it and gently inspected her ankle.

"It should be fine," he told her. "It might be a bit bruised tomorrow, but nothing too serious."

When he stood back up, he noticed that Charlie was struggling to put her seatbelt on, so he reached past her to fasten it up.

"How much did you drink?" He questioned her in a mildly amused tone.

"I don't know what was in them, but not that much," she slurred out in response.

"Alright. Miles went home with Nora, so his place is a no go," Bass told her. "And if I take you home like this, then your mom would kill us both, so you can sleep at my place tonight."

"Thanks," Charlie told him as her eyelids began to droop.

* * *

By the time that they reached Bass's apartment building, Charlie was already half-asleep in the passenger seat, so Bass carried her over his shoulder up to his apartment.

As he carried her up the stairs, Charlie noticed the view from over his shoulder and thought to herself that they should call him Ass Monroe. That thought resulted in an immediate giggle fit.

"What are you laughing at?" Bass questioned, but Charlie provided no answer.

A minute or two later, they were in Bass's apartment and Charlie began to laugh a little once again as she slurred out, "I was expecting a mansion covered in pictures of you."

Bass laughed a little under his breath as he carried her to the bedroom. Once there, he pulled the covers back before setting her down.

Within seconds, Charlie had the covers up to her face and had fallen asleep.

Bass smiled a little to himself before he left the room to go sleep on his couch.


	3. Chapter 3

Bass woke up early the next morning. He looked around, a little disoriented by the fact that he was in the living room and not the bedroom, before standing up. He'd been tired last night, too tired to bother even finding a blanket. He'd just flopped down onto the couch and dozed off right away so there was nothing to put away.

He didn't have a hangover. That was one pleasant perk that came from having to take care of drunk Charlie... Bass never drank when he was driving, at least not since the accident that had taken his family, so he had ended up remaining perfectly sober the night before. He had been planning on drinking once he got the twins home, but his plans had changed.

Bass checked the time and was once again pleasantly surprised when he discovered that he was up early.

He knew that there was no point in trying to go back to sleep, so he decided that he'd just get ready then and surprise Miles by showing up to work early for once.

* * *

Miles knew that the chances of Bass being up on time for work after taking the twins home were low, so he decided to head over to Bass's place to try and get his ass in gear. That seemed to be more effective than a phone call on most days.

Miles let himself into Bass's apartment, using the key that Bass had given him a long time ago, and instantly headed for his friend's bedroom.

Bass was still in bed, or so Miles thought, with the blankets pulled up to block Miles' view of him.

Miles turned the lights on and shouted loudly, "Come on, wake up Bass! ...Move your ass! You've got to get ready!"

After that two things happened at once. The body in the bed rolled over to reveal that it was Charlie at the same time as the door opened to the adjoining bathroom and Bass walked out with just a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Miles groaned out in an annoyed tone. "Seriously? When I left last night _you_ were going to leave her alone-" He stared pointedly at Bass for a moment before turning his attention to his niece who was still cocooned in Bass's bed with one arm now draped over her eyes to try and block out the light. "And _you_ weren't going to sleep with him."

Charlie seemed to wake up at that as her whole body seemed to go on high alert.

"No... _No._ " She said insistently as she stared over at Bass in horror. "We did _not_ sleep together... _Please_ tell me that we didn't sleep together."

She looked down and braced herself before she lifted up the blankets a little and let out a quiet sigh of relief. She was fully clothed... That was a good sign.

"You're right, we didn't," Bass agreed as he stepped further into the room. "But thanks for making it sound like that would be the absolute end of the world... That was nice."

Charlie was too busy falling back onto the pillow out of relief to look even remotely apologetic.

"So then what happened to the twins?" Miles questioned as he turned his attention back towards his best friend.

"I say you still owe me twenty bucks," Bass told him. "I won that bet. I mean they were about to go home with me when I had to leave them to save Charlie's drunk ass. And when I say drunk, I mean _drunk_. She was dancing on the bar-top and kicking drinks off and smashing them drunk."

"I don't remember that at all," Charlie mumbled into a pillow that she had moved over her face to try and block out the light and make the sounds less harsh. It did muffle them some, but it definitely was not enough to ease her killer headache.

"That's probably because you just drank anything that was given to you without even asking what was in it," Bass retorted in a less than sympathetic tone before turning his attention back towards his manager. "That guy must have been buying her something strong and then the little bastard just ran off laughing when she started breaking things... So I brought her here so that Rachel wouldn't murder me."

"She's still going to murder _me_ ," Charlie pointed out, her voice still muffled by her pillow shield.

"No, she's not," Miles told his niece. "I'll call her and tell her that you fell asleep on my couch last night."

"Thanks," Charlie muttered before her tone suddenly became more urgent as she threw the pillow off of herself and brought a hand to her mouth. "Oh no."

She quickly ran past Bass and moments later he and Miles could hear her emptying the contents of her stomach.

"Okay there is no way that she's in good enough condition to go to work," Bass pointed out. "Look, she can stay here today and get over her hangover while we're at work. But _you_ have to drive her home after."

"Alright... I've got to call Rachel first and then I'll tell her," Miles responded. " _You_ go put some fucking clothes on."

"I'm a model, Miles," Bass said with a grin as he turned to walk away. "It's my job to walk around half-naked, remember?"

"That just keeps getting funnier, Bass," Miles called after him sarcastically.

His friend just turned back around and shot him one last smirk. Miles rolled his eyes at the model and then pulled out his cell phone.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie woke up for a second time a few hours later and had to take a second to remember where she was. Her head was still bothering her a little, but it was certainly nowhere near as bad as it had been earlier.

As she got out of Bass's bed, she discovered that the bottoms of her pant legs were stained from a combination of mud from her fall and alcohol from when she had been kicking glasses off the table.

Great, that'd be fun to try and explain to her mother when she got home… She just hoped that she'd be able to get away with the truth that she had fallen down outside and be able to exclude the part where she had been drunk at the time. She'd just have to hope that her mom wouldn't smell the lingering alcohol on her.

She felt like a mess and she knew that if she were at home that she would just go for a shower, but she wasn't sure what exactly the point was to just put on the same dirty and stained clothes from the night before. With that in mind, she managed to convince herself that Bass's apartment was very thoroughly clean, so he would probably prefer if she changed out of her muddy clothes and borrowed something of his.

* * *

After Charlie went for a shower she was feeling quite a bit better as she stood, wrapped up in a towel, staring into Bass's closet.

It was intimidating. Everything looked expensive and she was sure that everything was. She didn't want to put on clothes worth more money than she had when she still wasn't a hundred percent sure whether she was going to throw up again or not.

Finally she turned away from the closet and decided to check his dresser to see if she could find anything that was a little less imposing looking.

Charlie hesitated in front of the dresser for a moment when she saw an old picture of a much younger Bass with two younger girls who appeared to be his sisters. She hadn't known that he had any siblings.

She had to smirk a little as she saw that the picture next to that one was a picture that was a few years old of him and Miles. Although Bass seemed to like to act as if Miles was just his manager in front of others and that drove Miles insane, it was clear that they were good friends.

When she opened the dresser, she was relieved to find that it was where he kept his old ratty clothes that looked like they had been washed far too many times for their own good. She pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a baggy hoody and was relieved when she was able to tie the pants tight enough to keep them from slipping off.

As she got dressed, Charlie noticed a bruise that had formed on the front of her ankle. As she stared down at it, she could feel the hint of a memory tugging at her brain and struggled to try and reach it.

She vaguely remembered falling and thought that she might remember being carried. But then she remembered Bass's gentle touch and the kindness in his eyes as he told her, _"It should be fine. It might be a bit bruised tomorrow, but nothing too serious._ "

The memory seemed strange to her. It didn't seem to fit with the entire attitude that he'd had earlier that day. That morning he had seemed annoyed and angry and judgemental about having to deal with her instead of the twins that he had been planning on taking home, but in that memory he had seemed patient and caring. It was like seeing two exact opposite sides of him.

Once dressed, Charlie internally debated with herself for a few minutes whether or not to snoop around. She was naturally curious and the fact that he'd been trying to pretend that he'd never been nice to her, or at least hadn't wanted to, was making her more than a little inquisitive towards him. But still, she didn't want to be nosy… Maybe if she just took a little look.

* * *

Half an hour later, Charlie finished rummaging through Bass's things with not much to show for it. She had discovered a few more old pictures and found out that he'd used to be in the army, but that was about it. That did make her feel a little better though, since she had felt a little guilty about it as she snooped.

It was still only lunch time and there was a long day ahead of her before Miles would be back to take her home.

She headed into the kitchen and grabbed herself a bagel, the most that she thought that she would be able to stand eating in her current state, and headed to the living room to eat in front of the TV.

* * *

When Bass came home that evening, he was amused to find that Charlie was curled up on his couch, fast asleep, with the TV on.

As he gently shook her shoulder he commented, "Good thing I didn't tell you to make yourself at home, who knows what you would have done then."

As Charlie looked down at herself and remembered that she was dressed in his clothes she shot him a sheepish smile, "Sorry. I guess I should go change back into my own clothes."

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "Keep them. But you should get moving; Miles wanted me to tell you to get your ass down there now."

"Thanks," she said as she stood up from the couch.

"It's really not that big of a deal, those are practically worn out anyways," he mumbled.

"I didn't just mean for the clothes," she told him. "I know that there are a lot of ways that you would have rather spent last night than dealing with me when I'm drunk. So thanks."

He nodded, seeming uncharacteristically uncomfortable before he told her, "You should probably go. Miles didn't sound like he was in an overly patient mood. **"**


	5. Chapter 5

The model who Bass was supposed to be doing the shoot with was making his showing up half an hour late on Charlie's first day of work seem like nothing and Bass was proving to have the patience level of a small child.

At least twice every few minutes, Bass would check the time on his phone before groaning or sighing dramatically to himself. Occasionally, he would change things up by just muttering something under his breath that Charlie couldn't hear. Miles had already grown so sick of it that he'd had to wander off, away from the model and to try and figure out what was going on.

* * *

"What do you mean that she's not showing up?" Miles demanded.

"Exactly what it sounds like. We're down a model and without her we're going to have to cancel the shoot… Or at the very least postpone it."

"You're kidding me right?" Miles questioned, only to get a stern glare in response.

* * *

Eventually Charlie couldn't stand it anymore as Bass started to complain for the thousandth time that morning.

"You're right, you're so hard done by," she told him sarcastically. "Your job is so tough… I feel sorry for you, really."

"Right, because you know exactly how difficult my job is," Bass retorted as he glanced down at the clock on his phone once again. "More than I do. Of course."

"Give me that," Charlie said as she grabbed Bass's phone out of his hand, sick of watching him check the time non-stop. "How tough can your job really be? All you have to do is pose for pictures. Thirteen year-old girls sit at home doing the same thing for free."

With that said she opened the camera on his phone and began to pose and take pictures of herself.

A few seconds passed before she stopped and turned to an amused looking Bass and taunted, "You're right. That was exhausting."

"Usually I'm not the one taking the pictures," Bass defended with a soft chuckle. "And I can't see what it's going to look like before the picture's taken."

"What?" Charlie asked in a tone of mock horror as a grin formed on her lips. "You mean you can't look at yourself for a whole shoot? You're right, your job's terrifying."

"Alright, smartass," Bass said as he grabbed his phone back from her. "Let's see you try."

* * *

"There is one way that we could keep from cancelling the shoot," the photographer piped up. "…Who's that girl over there with Bass?"

"What, Charlie?" Miles asked in a tone of disbelief as he turned to look over at where Charlie and Bass were laughing as she posed dramatically and he took pictures of her. "She's not a model."

"She's the closest thing we've got," the photographer pointed out. "She looks like she'd fit the wardrobe and she's not terrible… Besides, she clearly has chemistry with the model that we do have. Maybe she's not a model, but do you think you could convince her to be for today?"

Miles would rather slam his face against a wall than go ask his niece to model with Bass who she apparently 'clearly has chemistry with'.

There was a lengthy pause before he finally let out a sigh and agreed, "Fine. I'll try asking her."

* * *

"You should try pouting a little more," Bass commented before he let out a loud laugh as Charlie made the most over the top pout that she could manage. "Perfect."

Charlie couldn't hold that face for long though before she had to burst back into laughter. Bass still continued to take pictures as she did.

"Okay, stop," Charlie insisted through her laughs as she brought a hand up to block the lens' view of her face. "Seriously, stop."

She was laughing so hard that she could barely talk as Bass finally gave her a break.

As she turned to walk back to her seat, Bass smirked to himself and took a picture of her ass as he watched her go.

"I think I've got myself a new background for my phone," he commented smugly.

Charlie turned and saw the picture on the screen of his phone and told him, "Delete that."

"I don't know, I think it's a good picture," Bass teased.

"Delete that or I'll smash your phone," Charlie warned in a tone that would have been much more threatening if she weren't still smiling.

"Fine," he told her with a small smile as he hit the delete button. "It's gone, see?"

Before she had the chance to respond, Miles walked over to them and asked, "Can I talk to you for a second, Charlie?"

"What's going on?" She asked in response.

"I can't believe that I'm actually saying this," Miles admitted in a pained toned before he paused to try and decide on the best word choice. "…The other model cancelled and apparently they seemed to think that you'd make a good replacement."

"Me?" Charlie asked in a confused tone as her grin faltered.

"Yeah," Miles confirmed. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"It was funny before," Bass commented. "But now it's just embarrassing how easy you're making my job look, Charlie."

"I don't know how to model," Charlie pointed out in a worried tone.

Sure, she had been pretending that it was a no-brainer as an easy dig at Bass, but now that the possibility was presenting itself, she had to admit that she really didn't know the first thing about how to pose or whatever else models had to worry about when they were in a photo shoot.

Her jokes suddenly felt a lot less funny to her.

"It's not that tough," Bass assured her. "Mostly you just have to listen when they tell you how they want you to move."

"You really don't have to do this," Miles insisted.

Sure, they needed another model, but the last thing that he wanted to watch was Bass posing as a couple with his niece.

"If I'm the only option, then I guess I'll do it," Charlie told him.


	6. Chapter 6

As Charlie looked at her reflection, she was suddenly even less sure than she had been before… If that was even possible.

Why the hell had she had to make fun of Bass's job so much? She'd thought it was funny, but now she was stuck filling in next to him and her nerves were threatening to get the better of her.

Charlie could barely recognize her reflection. She hardly even wore makeup. She wasn’t used to the face in the mirror of a girl in dark red lipstick and thick black eyeliner.

Everything about her appearance was strange from the way her hair was tied tightly back into a ponytail of neat curls down to the heels that she could barely stand in. Well that wasn’t exactly true. She’d manage to trade the shoes out for ones a little less dangerous after pointing out that she couldn’t balance in the first set without breaking an ankle.

Still, she bet that Bass’s shoes were a hell of a lot more practical than this. Probably his outfit was too.

The outfit was the part that was really making her second guess her choice the most. Outfit might be too strong of a word for it. Charlie hadn’t worn a dress since she was young enough that her mom had picked out her clothes for her and those dresses certainly hadn’t been anything like the one she was wearing. It wasn’t necessarily that short, it stopped just above her knees, but the slit that went all the way up the leg and the low neckline were a bit much for her liking.

It was far too late to back out though, so she stared at her reflection for a second longer before turning and hoping that this would really be as easy as she’d been telling Bass it was.

* * *

She wasn’t sure whether Bass’s reaction to her appearance was a good thing or not. At least she knew that she didn’t look completely ridiculous, but the way that he was looking at her just made her even more nervous about having to pose with him.

What had she got herself into?

Miles’ reaction to Charlie’s new outfit was the polar opposite of Bass’s. She could see his jaw clench and his fists ball up even from across the room. Clearly he was not thrilled with the idea of her stepping in to model with Bass dressed like that.

* * *

As Miles watched the shoot, he frowned to himself. He suddenly very much wished that he had brought a flask to work with him today. He could definitely use a drink. It was times like this that he held a particular hatred in his heart for his best friend.

As Bass grabbed hold of Charlie's hips, Miles resisted the urge to throw something at him or yell at him. This was going to be a long damn photo shoot.

* * *

"Don't kill me for this, okay?" Bass asked gruffly in Charlie's ear as his hands moved to her hips.

Charlie thought to herself that it might at least make for an interesting picture, but made no comment out loud. She was incredibly aware of all of the eyes on her and the only direction that she'd been given at the start of the shoot was to act like she was into him. Not exactly the most detailed advice. They seemed to be under the impression that she really _was_ into Bass and so they had given her minimal direction.

She wasn't into Bass though... Not a chance. But at least if they already falsely thought that there was something going on between them, then it shouldn't be too hard to keep fooling them, right? Besides, Bass was flirty enough with her all the time that maybe he could just carry her weight in this.

She knew she was overthinking things and she also knew that she needed to just shut her mind off.

_Okay, Charlie. Just imagine that Bass is someone that you could actually be interested in..._

He's definitely not bad looking. And, as long as he doesn't open his mouth and start driving her insane saying stupid things, she could almost picture herself being attracted to him. _Almost_.

And, hey, it might be fun to torture him a little. After all, they wanted her acting like there was some kind of tension between them.

Charlie grabbed his hands off of her hips and wrapped them around her waist, leaving her hands over his as she turned her neck to look up at him over her shoulder. An unintentional smirk formed on her lips as she tried to hold back a laugh. This situation was beyond weird and there was definitely no way that she was even going to chance a look in her uncle's direction. She didn't need the look on his face confirming that she looked as ridiculous as she felt like she must.

After a while, she managed to somewhat figure out what she was doing, with a little help from Bass. Or at least the photographer seemed to be happy as he vocalized just how pleased he was with the sexual tension, which may or may not have made Charlie blush a little.

* * *

Miles' hands clenched tightly into fists, which he shoved into the pockets of his jeans as he glared over at the pair who appeared perfectly oblivious to how pissed off he was. In fact, they seemed perfectly oblivious to everyone around them and Miles wanted to punch his friend in the face more than he had in a long time. And that was certainly saying something.

He couldn't unhear any of the numerous conversations that he'd had with Bass where the model had bragged about how half of the time his job was basically walking around shirtless or getting paid to put his hands all over hot girls. That hadn't ever really bothered Miles before, in fact he often responded with comments of how Bass was a lucky bastard, but when it was his niece that Bass was running his hands over it was anything but funny.

* * *

"Either you're really into me or you're making my job look even more embarrassingly easy than I thought," Bass commented smugly.

Charlie stretched her body upwards, stopping with her head tilted up towards his and her lips practically touching his as she told him, "Then I guess you should think about getting a new job because I'm definitely not into you."

* * *

When the shoot was over, Bass told Miles, "I need a drink. I'm going out. Are you coming?"

"As much as I could use a drink, or twenty, after watching that, no," Miles responded. "I'm meeting up with Nora tonight."

"What? You two haven't broken up again yet?"

"Don't be a dick," Miles muttered back at him. "And don't even think about taking Charlie out drinking with you again because I will find out and I will murder you for it."

"Who said anything about asking Charlie?" Bass questioned. "I really don't have a thing for your niece."

"Sure you don't," Miles retorted sarcastically. "That's why you were trying so hard to get into her pants after you met her and why I had to watch you practically making out with her for that entire shoot, right? I'm not stupid, Bass. I know you want to get in her pants."

"I want to get into a lot of girls pants, Miles. And I already told you that I'm not going after her," Bass insisted. "Did I think about it at first? Yes. I'll admit that. But I promised you that nothing was going to happen with her and I meant it."

"You better have."

* * *

When Charlie got home from work, her mother instantly noticed the make-up that she probably should have taken off before coming home and commented, "You look nice."

Charlie knew that it was more of a question than a compliment. Her mom wanted to know why she was wearing the heaviest make-up that she had in her life. It was probably a fair question, but one that Charlie was going to try to evade nonetheless. She definitely had not thought through how she was going to tell her mother about her day.

"Thanks," she responded as she tried to head out of the room.

"Charlie, wait a second," Rachel insisted. "How was work today?"

"Fine," Charlie responded before deciding to add, "Maybe a little weird."

"Why are you wearing so much make-up, Charlie?" Rachel asked, silently praying that it wasn't for the male model she worked with.

"Work thing," she replied vaguely.

"What kind of work thing?" Rachel asked, narrowing her eyes at her daughter suspiciously.

"That's a good question," Charlie told her. "One that would be perfect for you to ask Miles."

"I'm not asking Miles. I'm asking you," Rachel insisted. "Why are you acting so weird?"

"You have to promise not to freak out," Charlie tried.

"You realize that saying that's more likely to make me worried, don't you?" Rachel questioned.

Charlie let out a sigh of defeat before sitting down, figuring that her mother was not going to let her get off too easily. She was for sure going to want a full explanation and Charlie was definitely going to try to leave out any details involving the actual photo shoot itself.

"Alright, well we were waiting at the photo shoot and the other model never showed up," she began. "And, it's stupid really, but I was joking around taking pictures with Bass while we waited. And I guess they really didn't want to reschedule because they kind of, sort of, got Miles to ask if I would fill in."

Rachel went uncharacteristically silent and Charlie's nerves sky-rocketed.

"It wasn't a big deal though, I swear," Charlie added, hoping to avoid a repeat of the speech her mother had given her about how much of a womanizer Bass was and how she shouldn't believe a word he says while he's trying to get into her pants. "I was just helping Miles out."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Charlie repeated in utter surprise.

"If you were just trying to help Miles out at work, then okay," Rachel elaborated. "And I know that you're too smart to fall for any of Bass's tricks."

Charlie smiled and nodded her head as she silently hoped that her mother would never see whatever pictures she had taken with Bass. If there was as much tension between them as the photographer seemed to think, then she knew her mother would probably end up calling Miles and trying to convince him not to let her work there anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

Bass was doing a good job of keeping his mind off of Miles' niece as he flirted with a leggy blonde. He was already trying to plan out the quickest way to get her home with him, when she told him, "Give me your phone for a second."

He figured that she planned on putting her number in, so he immediately obliged.

The girl may have had plans of giving him her number before, but all of those disappeared as she stared down at his phone for a few seconds and then shook her head in disbelief.

"I sure know how to pick them," she muttered to herself as she set the phone down.

"What?" Bass questioned wondering how she'd gone from fully interested to pissed off in under a minute.

"I apparently have a thing for assholes with girlfriends," she commented.

"Girlfriends? What the hell are you-" Bass cut himself off as he looked down at his phone screen.

It was open to one of the pictures of Charlie that he'd taken earlier. Fantastic, she wasn't even there and she was still managing to get in the way of him taking someone else home.

"She is not my girlfriend," he insisted. "I don't have a girlfriend. She's just a girl I work with."

"Don't give me that crap," she responded. "Look, I get it. I liked you, but look at your phone. You have hundreds of pictures of this girl all from today. Either you're a complete stalker, you're dating her, or you should be."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Bass insisted. "And why the hell were you going through my pictures anyways?"

"Because it's better to figure out that a guy's already taken before you get involved with him," she responded. "I've made that mistake before."

As she got up and left the table, Bass glared down at the picture of a laughing Charlie.

He put his phone back away and looked around the bar, but his mood was ruined. He didn't want to spend the rest of the night trying to talk some other girl into going home with him after the way that had just gone.

* * *

When Bass got home, he fell back onto his bed with a feeling of sheer exhaustion. He couldn't believe that Charlie had still managed to cock-block him without even being there.

What the hell was wrong with him? He was having a terrible dry spell and it was only since meeting her. Twice now he'd had chances completely ruined by her.

He couldn't blame it all on her though, as much as he may have wanted to. There was something wrong with _him_. He was the one who had left the hundreds of pictures she'd taken and gotten him to take on his phone. He was the one who hadn't wanted to stop taking pictures and the one who still hadn't deleted the pictures even after they'd ruined his night. Even the time before, he'd been the one who had chosen to look after a drunken Charlie instead of going home with the twins. He hadn't even gotten their numbers either; he'd just blown them off.

Bass had a serious problem and he needed to fix it. That was what tonight had been intended to do, but instead he'd just ended up at home alone, even more sexually frustrated than before with thoughts of Charlie plaguing his mind. He rolled onto his side, only to spot the shirt and jeans that Charlie had left behind when he had let her leave in his clothes.

It hadn't taken him long after she had left to notice that the clothes there, but he still had yet to do anything about them.

He knew that he easily could have taken them to her at work, he just wasn't exactly sure of why he hadn't. He'd made up the excuse to himself that he'd forgotten, but he hadn't. Not really. So why the hell were the clothes still there? He couldn't seriously be trying to use that as a way to get her back there. That was way too much and he'd already promised Miles that nothing was going to happen between them, even if Charlie wanted something to, which seemed doubtful based off of how frequently she turned his flirtation down.

He needed to get rid of the clothes and get her off of his mind as soon as possible. If he could just get rid of the clothes and not have to be reminded of her, then maybe he could get her off of his mind too.

* * *

Rachel was more than a little surprised when she answered her door to find Bass of all people standing there with a bag in his hand.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned suspiciously as she leaned her weight against the door frame and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Is Charlie here?" He asked in response. He held the bag up a little as he commented, "She forgot this."

Rachel seemed amused as she questioned, "So, what? You're Miles' errand boy now, coming to bring Charlie stuff that she forgets at work?"

That was a better response than explaining to her that it was clothes Charlie had left at his place that he was bringing of his own free-will, so he decided to go along with it.

"That's exactly why I'm here," he responded. "Do you really think that I'd voluntarily choose to spend my night playing lost and found at your house? So is she here?"

The smart thing to do would be to just leave the clothes with Rachel and run. That way, he'd get away from the clothes and any thoughts that Charlie herself might provoke. At the same time, there was a part of his mind that kept insisting that Rachel would look in the bag then and he'd end up getting Charlie caught. So no, he needed to hand them to her in person… But that was it, and then he was out of there.

* * *

Charlie was not expecting it when Bass turned into her living room and commented, "Nice sweats."

Dammit. How was she supposed to know that he was going to show up at her house when she was using the sweats he'd given her as pajama pants?

"They're comfy," she defended herself as she sat up a little from where she'd been lying sprawled across her couch.

"I know. Why do you think they look so worn?" Bass questioned in an amused tone.

Danny tore his gaze from the movie they'd been watching to look between Charlie and the smirking model as he commented, "I thought you said you got those sweats from Miles."

"She did," Bass attempted to cover for her. "But they were mine first."

"Right, Charlie's wearing third-hand sweats that she got from Miles," Danny muttered sarcastically before turning his attention back to the TV screen. "Convincing."

"I thought you were supposed to be going out tonight," Charlie pointed out as she looked over at Bass, wondering what exactly it was that he was doing in her house.

"I did. Briefly," Bass responded. "It didn't go well... Here, you forgot this."

He handed the bag over and Charlie looked in it to see the shirt and pants she'd left behind before she set the bag down on the floor and focused her attention back towards him.

"I thought that you were supposed to just get whatever you want just because you're a male model," she retorted with a smirk. "How did you manage to strike out?"

"I'm glad to know that you find my bad luck amusing," he commented.

"Charlie, if he's staying, then you'd better shut him up," Danny insisted. "I'm trying to watch a movie here."

Charlie shot Bass a questioning look as she folded her legs up, so that she was only sprawled across two spots instead of all three, in order to create a spot for him to sit if he was going to stay.

Bass debated for a moment before sitting down. It was fairly harmless, just watching a movie with her and her brother. Miles had said that Charlie was off-limits for sleeping with, not that they couldn't become friends. And with Miles out with Nora and a mental block keeping him from getting laid anyways, he figured that he didn't have anything better to do anyways.

* * *

Less than half an hour passed before Bass's cell phone began to ring.

He looked at who it was and then answered with, "Aren't you supposed to be with Nora? What? Did she dump you again?"

Danny paused the movie and then turned to glare over at the two on the couch as he told his sister, "This is your fault, Charlie."

"No. She didn't dump me, asshole," Miles grumbled in response. "And did I just hear Danny?"

"I don't know. Is Danny Charlie's brother?" Bass questioned.

Danny did not seem amused by the fact that Bass hadn't even bothered to figure out his name when he clearly hadn't known it before showing up.

"Where the hell are you and why, Bass?" Miles demanded. "How many times do I have to tell you that Charlie's off-limits?"

"What exactly do you think is happening right now?" Bass questioned. "What? Do you think that I'm having sex with Charlie in front of her brother and taking calls from you during?"

Before Miles had the chance to form a response, Charlie decided that it would be fun to mess with her uncle a little and loudly commented, "I can't find my shirt. Do you know where it went?"

Bass turned to look at her in surprise before glaring at her as Miles began to yell in his ear.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Miles insisted. "I hope you realize that this means that I'm going to murder you."

Charlie smirked widely as she insisted, "Seriously, Bass. Danny's going to be back any second and I can't find my shirt!"

"I'm going to make it a slow and painful death too," Miles continued. "Or maybe I'll keep you alive and just torture you until you wish you're dead."

Danny seemed to decide that it would be fun to join in and get the model into even more trouble, so he angrily demanded, "Why are you two still half-naked? I left the room so that you could get dressed."

Bass gave in then and interrupted Miles mid-death threat to tell him, "Hold on a second." He dropped his phone on the table and waited a few seconds before loudly commenting, "I found your shirt, but I still can't figure out where the hell my pants went."

Rachel appeared in the doorway then, after overhearing some of the commotion, as she demanded, "What the hell is going on in here?"

It added the perfect effect to their little skit, but it definitely was not an act on her behalf.

"It's a joke," Danny explained as he turned to look over in his mother's direction. "We're just messing with Miles."

Rachel looked between her still fully clothed daughter and Bass as her heart rate began to return to normal a little.

It was completely silent for a moment except for the faint sound of Miles' voice coming from Bass's phone.

Bass picked it up and interrupted Miles again to tell him, "Calm the hell down. Do you really think that I would have ever answered my phone, or that I wouldn't have hung up on you by now, if I was really in the middle of trying to get dressed after getting caught with Charlie? Besides, Rachel would have already murdered me for you if something was actually going on."

"Do you seriously think that was funny?" Miles demanded. "I might still have to beat the hell out of you just for pretending that something happened."

"That seems bad for business," Bass pointed out. "So why aren't you with Nora?"

"I am. Why aren't you out like you said you'd be instead of with Charlie?" Miles retorted.

"I was. Long story short, it didn't go well. I'll tell you later," he responded. "I came to drop Charlie's clothes off. Why are you calling me while you're with Nora?"

"Because I made the mistake of feeling sorry for your pathetic ass and was going to invite you over to get drunk," Miles responded. "Which is something that I'll never do again, by the way."

"Feel sorry for me or invite me over?" Bass questioned.

"I'm not doing either," Miles insisted. "…Not ever again."

Bass heard Nora's voice come through the phone then as she told Miles, "Oh, stop being a baby and give me the phone."

Bass let out a laugh at that.

"Are you coming or not?" Nora questioned.

"Give me ten minutes and I'll be there."


	8. Chapter 8

"I can't believe that I'm actually saying this, but you have feelings for her," Nora commented. "And that is my opinion as someone who, up until now, didn't think that you were capable of having feelings."

"I usually don't," Bass insisted. "But with Charlie... It just gets under my skin."

"What? That you can't get under hers?" Nora asked in an amused tone.

"Not how I was going to put it, but yeah," he admitted.

"Why haven't you?" Nora asked.

"She's not interested," Bass responded before taking a swig of his drink. "Besides, Miles would kill me."

"If he's acting that paranoid and pissed off, it's because he thinks she might go for it," she insisted. "And, if you really like her, don't worry about Miles. I can distract him until he eventually comes around."

"And why should I take advice from someone who has broken up and gotten back together with Miles more times than I can even keep track of anymore?" Bass questioned.

"Did you get any better advice from anyone else lately?" She challenged. "Besides, I may have a roller coaster of feelings, but at least I'm not afraid to listen to them."

Bass considered her words as Miles walked back into the room and asked, "Are we done talking about how Bass can't get laid to save his life yet?"

* * *

As Charlie watched Bass modelling with a leggy brunette, she turned to her uncle and questioned, "People were claiming that _I_ have sexual tension with Bass, but we were nowhere near this disgusting during our shoot, right?"

The pair of models was all over each other and she was sure that they must be more convincing than her and Bass had ever been.

"Sorry, kid," Miles responded gruffly. "You two were at least as sickening."

Charlie found that more than a little hard to believe as she stared over at the pair.

* * *

When the shoot finally ended, Miles wandered off to talk to someone about something that was apparently too work-related to be worth explaining to Charlie as he left her alone.

Bass finished changing back into his own clothes and came back before Miles. When he spotted Charlie, he headed straight in her direction.

"What are you doing tonight, Charlie?" He asked with a smile as he stopped in front of her.

"Not you," she quipped as a smirk played at her lips.

He let out a laugh at that, "So then what are you doing?"

Before Charlie had the chance to answer that, the other model walked over. She acted as if she weren't interrupting anything as she leaned over, pressing herself against Bass way more than could possibly be necessary, as she whispered something in his ear.

His attention was clearly captured as his eyebrow quirked upwards. He was obviously impressed with whatever was being offered to him and Charlie found herself shaking her head in disbelief as the brunette removed herself from Bass, then began to walk away as she told him, "Come by tonight. I'm sure you remember where."

As much as Charlie wished she didn't, she guessed that she knew what Bass would be doing that night. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as he watched the other woman go.

Bass knew what the model was capable of and he was tempted, especially after the particularly unpleasant dry spell he'd been having lately, but when he turned back to Charlie and saw the look of disbelief on his features it happened again. She was messing with his mind once again.

"So do you want to do something tonight?" He asked her.

"You're unbelievable," she told him incredulously. "Aren't you already busy tonight? …Or are you trying to double book?"

"Not double book," he told her with a shrug. "I'm not going to her place. I'd rather have you come over. I'll make you dinner."

"You do remember that I said I'm not having sex with you tonight, right?" She asked him.

"Believe it or not, it is possible to have a meal with someone without having sex with them," he pointed out.

"I wasn't sure you knew that," Charlie countered.

"I've had plenty of meals with Miles," Bass retorted. "And that's yet to lead to sex. So, what do you say?"

"Is this a date?" She asked him accusingly. "Or is this the kind of meal you'd have with Miles?"

"Which do you want it to be?" He questioned.

Charlie didn't answer, and instead asked, a little hesitantly, in return, "What time should I come over?"

* * *

When Charlie arrived, Bass still had no idea whether it was supposed to be a date or not in Charlie's mind.

That made things a little more complicated. He'd been hoping that what she was wearing when she showed up would help tip him off, but he had no such luck. She was wearing the same outfit as earlier, which provided him with no clues.

As she took a seat in his kitchen, she questioned, "Let me guess. You only cook shirtless."

"Actually, I'm not all that interested in burning my chest," he responded before a smirk crossed his features. "But if you want me to take my shirt off, all you have to do is ask."

"I think I can survive with it on," Charlie insisted.

"If you say so," he responded with an innocent shrug. "You want a drink?"

After the way she'd embarrassed herself last time she'd drank in front of him, Charlie decided to opt for water instead.


	9. Chapter 9

"You know, you'd probably strike out a lot less if you made even the slightest effort with girls that are throwing themselves at you," Charlie commented. "I wouldn't exactly call that a dry spell."

"Hey, my dry spell is your fault," Bass countered. "Three times now you've messed up a sure thing for me... Four if you count the twins separately."

"Okay, first. You're disgusting," she told him. "And, second, I'll buy the twins being my fault. But you're the one who chose to make me dinner over going home with that model. That's on you."

"Exactly, I _chose_ to be here," Bass agreed. "I don't do that. I don't turn down a sure-fire chance of good sex for no chance at any sex. I blame you."

"Does that line usually work for you?" Charlie challenged.

"Haven't used it before, so you tell me," he responded. "Is it working?"

She blatantly ignored his question as she asked, "What about the other time? How did I supposedly block you from getting any the night you showed up at my place?"

"I went out to get laid and ended up at your place instead, Charlie," he pointed out as if it required no explanation. And yet, he still added, "Besides, I was about to take someone home. Right up until she saw all the pictures of you on my phone and freaked."

Charlie did not come off as overly sympathetic as she let out a laugh at his misfortune.

"Tell me you don't still have those pictures on your phone," she pleaded.

He gave her a non-committal shrug. "Maybe."

She shook her head at him. "If those get in your way again, that's your fault… In fact, I'm pretty sure it's already your fault now."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not really all that focused on other girls at this point," Bass pointed out.

"That was a pretty good line," she admitted. "Might have worked better if you hadn't led with a list of people you've been trying to sleep with lately though."

"Maybe that's because it's not just a line," he offered. "And, if I'd really wanted to, I could have gotten laid every night since meeting you."

"Modest," Charlie commented sarcastically, although she had to admit to herself that the evidence did seem to point in favour of his words.

"The point is that I haven't," Bass insisted.

"And I'm supposed to believe that it's because of me?" She asked skeptically.

"You get in my head, Charlie," he told her. "And it's driving me insane."

Charlie remained silent for a moment before she shifted her attention to what he was doing and questioned, "Do you even know how to cook?"

"You do realize that I can function on my own, right?" He retorted. "I'm not just a hot body."

"Right," she responded with a smirk.

* * *

Regardless of the fact that Bass had insisted that he knew what he was doing, and that the smell of the food actually had Charlie starving, she still hesitated when he set the plate in front of her as she stared down at it.

"So you'll drink anything some random guy hands you, but you're afraid to try my cooking?" He questioned.

"There's a reason that I'm not drinking tonight," Charlie retorted.

She wanted to switch from the subject of her embarrassing drunk incident, so she grabbed her fork and risked the meal.

"Edible?" He questioned.

"As far as I can tell," she responded. "I guess you can fend for yourself."

"I told you I'm more than just a hot body," Bass pointed out.

"So then what does that make you?" She teased. "A perfect Ken doll?"

"I can do a lot more than a Ken doll," he responded suggestively.

She let out a laugh at his defensiveness.

"You know, you're not the worst company," she told him.

"Careful, Charlie," he warned her with a smirk. "That was almost a compliment."

"You're right, we wouldn't want that," she agreed in an amused tone.

* * *

Charlie was on her way out the door when Bass commented, "You know, you still haven't told me whether this was a date or not."

Initially, Charlie hadn't exactly been sure why she was coming over. She hadn't known what she'd wanted the dinner to be. Sure, she'd grown tolerate Bass, and maybe even enjoy his company sometimes. But that didn't change his reputation or his ridiculous ego.

While she'd definitely gotten more ego out of him, she found that it didn't bother her quite as much as it had at first. And she'd even managed to get another glimpse at the Bass that was hidden behind the over-confidence.

So, when she was confronted with the decision as the night came to an end, she found herself doing something that she had been trying to convince herself she had no desire to do.

Bass hadn't entirely been an expecting her to give him an answer. He'd thought it was more likely that she would just ignore the question and leave with him still not entirely certain of what the evening had been.

Instead, she turned to look at him and hesitated, for just a split second, before walking back over to him and craning her neck up to bring her lips to his.

He moved to deepen the kiss, but she just smiled against his lips before breaking off the kiss altogether.

She paused for a moment, watching his reaction with a small smirk plastered on her lips, before she turned back around to head for the door.


	10. Chapter 10

"Maybe you should go home, Charlie," Miles told her. "You shouldn't have to watch this."

"Relax, Miles," Charlie insisted. "We're all mature adults here, right? Besides, if I leave, then who will you complain to about having to see Bass naked? I thought that was my whole job description… Listening to you complain and keeping you company."

Miles wasn't sure which was worse, having watched the photo shoot the two of them had done together or that he still had to make it through Bass's nude shoot with Charlie in the room.

Bass had at least started with a robe on, but when the shoot started it was time for him to remove it and Charlie was still there. As the robe came off, Miles moved to block Charlie's view with one hand in front of her eyes.

"You're too innocent to see this," he insisted.

"So you're just going to stand like this for the entire thing?" Charlie asked him as she stretched her neck up a little to peek over her uncle's hand.

"Yes." Miles told her without hesitation. "…Maybe."

"You do realize that you're making a bigger deal out of this than he is, right?" She questioned as she looked back over at her uncle with a smirk.

"Fine? You want to be traumatized by the sight?" He asked her. "Your choice."

With that, he moved his hand out of the way and stuffed it into his pocket as hes tried to pretend that he didn't notice his niece taking a good look at his naked best friend and seeming less than traumatized by it. At least Bass seemed to have finally given up on hitting on Charlie, for the time being anyways.

"I need a drink," Miles muttered.

* * *

When the shoot ended, Bass didn't seem to be in any rush to put his clothes back on as he walked over to where Charlie was sitting with Miles. He shot her a smirk as Miles glared at him from behind her and tried to hold himself back from throwing up.

Bass leaned over, as if he intended to try to kiss Charlie, but she put an abrupt stop to that when she reached with one hand to shove his face away and shook her head as she told him, "Go put some clothes on."

As Bass turned to walk away, and Charlie may or may not have watched him go, Miles questioned, "How did you get him to listen to you?"

"Easy. He doesn't listen to you because he doesn't want to get into your pants," she responded with a smirk.

"That's a good thing," Miles insisted.

* * *

Bass came back a few minutes later, fully dressed, and grinned over at Charlie and Miles.

Charlie smiled back, glad that Bass had thrown some clothes back on for the time being. As he stopped next to her, she stretched upwards to bring her lips to his.

"No… This is not happening," Miles complained.

Charlie let out a small laugh as she quickly pulled back.

"Calm down, Miles," Bass told him. "She was telling me to put more clothes on, not to take them off. And I didn't even get any tongue."

Miles turned to face Charlie before pointing out, "You _chose_ to kiss that. Just think about that for a second."

"Yeah, I can't believe it either," she admitted with a smirk.

Miles wasn't smiling though as he turned to Bass and questioned, "How many times did I tell you that Charlie's off-limits?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to be keeping track," Bass responded, seeming much more amused with the situation than the other man was.

"I don't need you protecting me," Charlie pointed out to her uncle. "I can look after myself."

* * *

Miles clearly didn't seem to think so though, since Charlie came home to find that he had called her mother about what was going on.

That much became abundantly clear when Rachel immediately rushed over to go into a full-blown lecture, both repeating and adding on to the original speech she had given Charlie before she had started working with Bass.

"What were you thinking, Charlie?" Her mother demanded as she finally finished her speech about just how bad of an idea having anything to do with Bass was.

"Relax. He's not that bad," Charlie insisted. "Besides, all I did was kiss him. It's not like I jumped into bed with him."

"You're not doing _anything_ with him anymore, Charlie," Rachel told her.

"That's not you're decision to make," Charlie pointed out.

"If you want to keep living under my roof, then you're not going anywhere near him," Rachel threatened.

"Fine. Just give me a second to grab some clothes and then I'm out of here."

Charlie pushed her way out of the kitchen before her mother could argue and headed towards her room. She quickly stuffed the bare necessities into a bag before turning and heading for the door.

She knew that she couldn't go to Miles' place, since he was the one who had ratted her out and he'd probably tell her mother where she was, so that left one clear choice to her.

* * *

"What? You just couldn't stay away?" Bass questioned with a grin when Charlie showed up in his doorway.

She didn't seem even remotely amused by that, especially since she was still in a bad mood from what had happened at home.

"Can I stay here tonight?" she asked him. "I got kicked out and it's half Miles' fault, so I can't go to his place."

"How did you manage to get kicked out?" Bass questioned with a laugh.

"Defending you," she responded. "I know. I must be delusional… So can I stay here or not?"

"Sure."


	11. Chapter 11

"This is weird," Bass commented.

"What?" Charlie questioned as she opened her eyes to look over at him. "Not used to sharing the bed? What? Are you used to running off right afterwards? Or do you usually just kick girls out?"

"I've had girls spend the night before," he defended himself. "I meant this whole just sleeping thing."

Charlie closed her eyes again as she told him, "You're the weird one."

She knew that Bass saying things like that was a big part of what made her mother and uncle so against even the idea of something happening between her and Bass. Charlie knew that like she knew it was the reason that she hadn't wanted to fall for his tricks. Still, even though she knew all about his reputation, she found herself drawn to him.

She wasn't stupid though. She was being careful and taking things slow, but her family members apparently didn't trust her judgement. The part that bothered her the most was that Miles had turned on her and ratted her out to her mother before she had gotten the chance to try to break the news a little easier. And it wasn't like Miles had caught them sneaking around either. Charlie had kissed Bass in front of her uncle because she wasn't trying to hide anything and she trusted him. Or at least she had before he'd gotten her thrown out of her house.

* * *

"You coming back tonight?" Bass questioned after tugging a t-shirt on over his head. "You can stay here as long as you're kicked out."

"I don't know," Charlie told him from where she was seated on the corner of his bed.

She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She knew that staying at Bass's place would only make matters worse, although in a way that only made the idea seem more appealing, but she was still pissed at both her mother and her uncle. The idea of having to deal with either of the pair did not appeal to her.

She needed to talk to Danny. She didn't want to leave him at home alone with a crazy Rachel and she knew that, when their mother was angry at one person, everyone around her suffered the consequences.

* * *

Charlie had shown up to work, but she'd spent the entire day icing out her uncle. Even when forced to talk to him, she'd just respond with minimal words and shoot him a glare to make sure he knew that she was still mad at him.

The work day was finally coming to an end, after what felt like an infinitely long day of doing absolutely nothing, when her brother called her.

* * *

After Charlie left to take the call away from the other two, it was just Miles and Bass left in the former's office.

Miles made it pretty clear that he did not want to talk as he pretended the other man wasn't even there, while he drank by himself and offered none to the model.

"Rachel threw her out last," Bass told his friend as he decided that things would probably go a lot better if Miles found out from him instead of getting surprised by it later. "She stayed at my place last night."

Miles jaw clenched, but he remained silent. He continued to ignore the other man as he took a long swig of his drink.

"I figured you'd rather hear it from me first."

* * *

"Are you coming back tonight?" Danny asked.

"I'm not sure what I'm doing yet," Charlie responded. "But I'm finished here soon and then I'll be home before Mom gets there either way. I'm not sure if I'm staying or just grabbing some more clothes though."

"So you'd rather be homeless than stay away from Monroe?" He questioned.

"It's not like I'm sleeping in the streets or on a park bench," she pointed out. "I stayed at his place last night. In a bed."

"I don't want to hear about you in his bed," her brother told her.

"Relax. We just slept," she assured him. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm being careful... It's not like I'm rushing into things blind."

"…So… Dating a model, huh?" Danny asked her. "What's his IQ?"

Charlie let out a laugh. "Right. Because asking that was the first thing I did after he asked me out."

"You didn't ask him for his number?" Danny joked.

"Asking for someone's number doesn't mean IQ points, but you should try that on girls sometime. I'm sure it would work out real well for you," Charlie responded. "He isn't stupid though."

"Are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into Charlie?" Danny asked as Charlie spotted a familiar face turn into the hallway.

"No. But I'm trying to figure that out," she told him. "I've got to go, but I'll see you after work."

Nora reached Charlie just as she was putting her phone back away.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie questioned.

"Came to check if Miles has killed Bass yet," she responded. "And to hopefully prevent it if he hasn't."

"I take it you've heard about what's going on then," the younger girl commented. "Do you think I'm an idiot for giving him a chance?"

"Normally, I would answer anybody asking me that question with an immediate yes," Nora responded. "But not you. If I'd thought that, then I never would have told him to just ignore Miles and ask you out already."

"You told him to ask me out?" Charlie asked in disbelief.

"Someone had to," Nora told her. "I've never seen him like this."

"Like what?" Charlie questioned.

"Hung up on you."

Charlie hesitated for a moment before asking her, "Did Miles tell you that he called my mom?"

Nora nodded her head. "I would have stopped him if I could have."

"She freaked out and told me that I either stay away from him or don't live there anymore," the younger girl admitted. "So I left and stayed at Bass's place last night."

"Does Miles know?" Nora questioned.

"I don't know. I'm trying not to talk to him right now," Charlie told her with a shrug. "Can you tell him that I'm leaving early? I've got to go grab some more clothes before my mom comes back and he'll probably take it better from you than if I go tell him that I have to go early to grab stuff to take to Bass's."

"Sure. No problem."


	12. Chapter 12

Charlie let out a groan as she looked down at the caller ID on her ringing phone. Apparently her mother must have come home and found out that she'd come back for a bag of stuff, then realized that she wasn't going to give up easily. Rachel clearly had gone into freak out mode as a result of her daughter not coming crawling back home and promising to stay away from Bass. 

Charlie hit the ignore button and silently hoped that her mother wouldn't try to call back. That hope was crushed when her phone began loudly ringing again just seconds later. Charlie frowned to herself before hitting ignore again and then shutting her phone off. She waited a few seconds, half-expecting the phone in Bass's apartment to start ringing, but either her mother didn't know where she was staying or she had taken the hint, since no such call came through. 

Less than five minutes passed before she came to regret that train of thought as the phone in Bass's apartment started to ring loudly and Charlie felt a surge of anger run through her. She got up and stormed across the room to grab the phone, without bothering to check who it was before answering. She was convinced that she didn't need to as she ordered into the phone, "Stop calling me." 

"Already answering the phone in Bass's apartment. That was quick," Miles commented into the phone. "You do realize this is the first time I've called, right?" 

"I had to turn my phone off because my mom won't stop calling me, probably to give me another lecture to try to get me to come back home and do whatever she says," she responded. "Which is all _your_ fault since you decided to rat me out before I could tell her myself. And we both know that you're not calling Bass, considering you refused to even talk to him all day, so you can stop calling me too." 

"Wait, hold on a second before you hang up on me," her uncle insisted. 

"Why should I when you didn't even hesitate before siccing my mom on me?" She retorted. 

"Alright, fine. I deserved that," Miles admitted. "But come on, Charlie. If you knew half of the stuff I know about his relationship history- if you can even call it that -then you'd understand why I reacted like that." 

"I'm not stupid, Miles. In case you haven't noticed, I didn't fall for his usual tricks. Besides, I've already heard more than enough lectures and seen more than enough to know that he has a past," Charlie insisted. "And if I'm an idiot and completely wrong about him, then you're off the hook. Congratulations. It'll be all my fault and you and Mom can brag about how you both knew better than me. Maybe even throw yourselves an 'I told you so' party." 

"Alright, fine. You can take care of yourself," Miles gave in. "But that doesn't mean that I can't still be pissed at him for insisting that he wasn't going to go after you anymore and lying to my face." 

"Nora might have had something to do with that," Charlie told him. "...But don't get mad at her for it." 

There was a brief silence before Miles questioned, "You know I didn't mean to get you kicked out, right?" 

Charlie sat in a defiant silence for a dragged out couple of seconds before admitting, "I know." She felt a small smirk form on her lips as she added, "That doesn't make it any less of a dick move though." 

Miles chuckled audibly through the phone, which Charlie couldn't help but smile at, before he responded, "No, I guess not. Sorry, Kid... Are we good?" 

She pretended to consider for a moment before she told him, "That depends. Are you planning on reporting this conversation back to my mom?" 

"No. Somehow I don't think that would go over well for either of us," he admitted. 

"Well, did you tell her that I'm staying with Bass?" Charlie questioned. 

"I'll let you deal with that one," Miles responded. "I'd rather not get injured just for being in her proximity when she finds out anyways." 

"Okay, then we're good." She put on a teasingly warning voice as she added, "For now." 

He let out a small laugh at that before he told her, "Alright, you can hang up on me n-" 

Charlie didn't let him finish before hanging up with a smile on her lips. She set the phone back down before turning and walking towards the kitchen, following the smell that made it clear that Bass had made quite a bit of progress on dinner since she had gone to put her bag away and gotten side-tracked on the way back by the bombardment of phone calls from her family members. 

"What's with your phone ringing so much?" He questioned as he glanced up to watch her enter the room. "You write your phone number on the door of a bathroom stall somewhere?" 

"That sounds like me," Charlie agreed sarcastically. "My mom just can't take the hint that me not taking her calls means that she should stop calling. I turned my phone off now." 

"Was that her calling here too?" Bass asked, looking a little bit concerned by the idea. 

"No, it was Miles," she told him. "I don't think she knows I'm here." 

"Good. That means there's still a chance that I won't wake up with a gun to my head, then," Bass responded. He was only mildly joking. 

"Don't worry. She wouldn't pull the trigger with me in your bed," Charlie assured him. "Waking your daughter up to the sound of a gunshot and the feeling of brains being splattered all over her is a sure-fire way not to get her back on your side." 

"Might keep you away from me though," Bass pointed out in an amused tone. 

"Except for the fact that I'd be stuck picking parts of you out of my hair for days," she retorted. 

"Your pre-dinner conversation is astounding," he complimented her with a smirk. "Really." 

"You're the one who brought up the scenario," Charlie pointed out innocently. 

"You're right. I brought that on myself," Bass responded sarcastically. In all actuality they both knew that he had, at least to a degree. "What'd Miles want?" 

"Back on my good side," she told him with a small shrug. 

"Did he succeed at that?" Bass questioned as he struggled to seem indifferent. 

"Yeah. He's not the real problem and he claims he's going to stop treating me like I need to be over-protected, so..." She trailed off. "You're still on his bad-side though." 

"That sounds about right," Bass commented. "You can't keep your mouth off of me in front of him and I'm the one on his shit-list for it." 

"You're right," Charlie responded sarcastically. "You were just the poor, innocent victim that tried to kiss me in front of him five minutes earlier while not wearing any clothes." 

He let out a laugh and then told her, "Exactly. As soon as Miles figures that out, he'll get over himself and be begging me not to be mad at him for this." 

A smirk formed on Charlie's lips as she insisted, "You keep telling yourself that." 


	13. Chapter 13

It was Nora who had finally decided that enough was enough and invited both Miles and Bass over with the hope of forcing them to make up. 

"What's he doing here?" Miles grumbled out unhappily as his girlfriend let Bass into her apartment. 

"You two are going to get over this now so that I don't have to listen to you complaining anymore," she insisted as she stared pointedly over at Miles. 

"If I have to be in the same room as him, then I'm not nearly drunk enough," he grumbled out in response before downing what was left of his drink. He turned his attention to the model as he added, "You're a real prick, you know that?" 

"You're pissed, I get it, but you do realize that she's old enough to make her own decisions, right?" Bass questioned. 

Miles didn't want to hear it, especially since he had found out that Nora was all for the relationship and had even encouraged Bass to pursue his niece. 

"You told me that you were going to stay away from Charlie," Miles pointed out once again. "I know you were running out of girls who you hadn't already ensured wouldn't voluntarily come within ten yards of you, but that doesn't mean that you could go after her." 

"I like her Miles," Bass insisted. "I wasn't expecting this anymore than you were." 

The other man let out a choked chuckle at that. "I saw you going after her coming from the beginning." 

"So then why are you so pissed?" The model demanded. 

"Because I asked you to stay away from _one_ person, Bass!" Miles shouted out. "Is it really that hard to stay away from her?" 

"What if it is?" He questioned. "I didn't mean for this to happen, okay? I tried to follow your stupid rules, but I couldn't. So if you want to be pissed, then fine. Go ahead. I'll give you a free shot." With that the model stepped until he was standing right in front of his manager and spread his arms out from his sides, waiting for the blow to come. "I'll even let you go for the face." 

Miles fiddled with his empty glass for a few moments as he stared up at the other man. Finally, he moved to stand up in front of him and took a step a little too close to effectively try to hit him. He stared the model down for a few seconds longer before he set his glass down on the table and told him, "I'll take a rain-check on that." 

With that, Miles pushed past his confused looking friend to pour himself another drink. 

"So you're telling me that you _don't_ want to punch me right now?" Bass asked in surprise. 

Miles hesitated and turned back around to face him. "Oh, I definitely want to punch you. If it weren't for Charlie, I already would have. With or without a free shot... A broken nose is bad for business though anyways, so I'll take a rain-check. But if you do _anything_ to hurt her, I will hurt you ten times worse. You'll be the most disfigured model around." 

"Deal," Bass agreed. 

Miles hesitated with the bottle of scotch still in his hand for a moment longer before asking, "So are you drinking or what?" 

* * *

Bass wasn't back when Charlie drifted off to sleep. She woke up again when he came back, at the sound of the bathroom door shutting. The only light in the room was coming from the small space between the wooden door and the floor. She forced herself upwards and reached over to grab her phone off of the bedside table. She glanced down at the screen to find that it was even later than she had been expecting. 

He reemerged from the restroom as she was setting her phone back down. 

Charlie sat up with heavy muscles and peered over at him, squinting a little from the light of the washroom which was shining behind him. 

He wavered in the doorway for a moment. His mind was still a little fuzzy from the drinks he'd had before Nora had driven him home. 

"You're back late," she commented. "Does that mean you and Miles are back on good terms again?" 

He moved towards the bed as he responded, "He doesn't want to kill me anymore, if that's what you mean... At least not for now." 

As he got into bed, she let out a small laugh. "I can smell your breath from here." 

"You think _I_ drank a lot, you should have seen your uncle," he insisted as he shifted closer to her under the covers. 

As he wrapped an arm around her waist, she turned and smirked over at him. She brought her lips to his and stifled another laugh as she pulled away at the strength of the taste of alcohol on his mouth. He nuzzled closer, burying his face in her neck, then let out a contented sigh. "I guess this whole just sleeping thing isn't _completely_ awful." 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't like smut, then you're probably just going to want to skip this chapter...

Bass had barely sat down on the bed before Charlie, who had already been waiting for him on top of the covers, was shifting closer to him. She rolled on top of him and moved her lips to his, letting her intentions shine clearly as she wasted no time deepening the kiss. He kissed back, his tongue fighting for dominance, as one of his hands tangled in her hair and the other moved to the small of her back. 

Having her on top of him and the tension that had been building more and more between them, without any release other than the mortifying amount of cold showers he'd been taking since she had moved in, had led to his lower body to react embarrassingly quickly to her. He was surprised when instead of shifting away or making some kind of joke at his expense, she responded by rolling her hips over his. 

Shit. 

She had him more wrapped around her finger than he thought she could possibly understand as she tore her lips away from his to catch her breath. Her chest moved away from him, taking its warmth with it in the process as she shifted her weight off of his. 

His hands moved to her hips, to try to keep her from completely breaking the contact as she sat up. His movement caused her to stop and turn to stare down at him. He was still breathing heavily from the kiss as he asked, "What happened to taking it slow?" 

"You do realize that you're not the only one with needs, right?" She questioned. "I'm sick of waiting." 

He sat up himself and his hands trailed up from her hips, beneath her tank top, to rest on the flesh of her sides. He moved his lips to her neck, planting kisses from just behind her ear down to the flesh above her collarbone before he hesitated and murmured against her skin, "You're sure?" 

Her legs wrapped loosely around his waist and she shifted her torso a little further away from him to give herself enough space to pull her shirt off over her head. She tossed it aside before turning her gaze back onto him and telling him, "I'm sure." 

Her words barely registered as he stared down at the newly revealed flesh. She had already been in bed when he had gotten there and, as she had grown more comfortable with him, the outfits she wore to bed had become increasingly torturous for him. She had started off first in the old sweats he had leant to her and a baggy shirt, but had slowly increased the amount of skin she was showing until she had gotten down to a routine of sleeping in just a relatively thin tank-top and her panties. That had left little enough to his imagination, but now, with her sitting in his lap and only a thin layer of fabric on her bottom half left covering her, he was left staring at her in awe. 

He was trying to memorize every little piece of exposed flesh with his eyes before he even let his hands explore, but his gawking was cut short as her own hands began tugging at the hem of his shirt. He took the hint and brushed her hands away before removing his shirt for her. He dropped it to the floor beside the bed and turned back to find her studying his own chest, although it was nothing new to her. 

Charlie's arms wrapped around his neck to pull him closer as her lips returned to his. He pulled her backwards with him to lie back on the bed again, with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, as he enjoyed the feeling of her bare nipples pressing again the flesh of his chest. 

As his back hit the bed, she moved her arms from his neck and ran them down to the waistband of the jeans she hadn't let him shed before pouncing on him. Her hands fumbled with the button and managed to get them undone and half-unzipped before his own hands reached down to grab her by the wrists and stop her. 

She pulled her mouth away from his and opened her eyes to shoot him a questioning look, but before a question had the chance to escape her lips, he had grabbed her by the waist to roll them both over so that he was on top. He hovered over her for a moment longer, appreciating the view, before his lips moved to latch onto one of her nipples. Her breath hitched and he held back a smirk as he let one of his hands move to tease her other breast while his mouth continued to lick and suckle at that one. 

After a while, he seemed to decide that her other breast wasn't getting nearly the attention it deserved, so he switched sides. She relaxed against the bed, with one hand in his curls, until he suddenly broke contact with her. Her head lifted from the pillow to gaze down at him. She watched as he grinned up at her seductively before his lips moved to her abdomen. He trailed slow, open-mouthed kisses down her stomach, pausing when the fabric of her panties prevented him from trailing any further. 

She let out a groan as, instead of moving to remove them, he began to work his way back up her torso. He kissed every inch of flesh he could find as his body slowly glided back over hers until his mouth was on hers. He felt her mouth open to grant him further access as she moaned into his mouth when he reached down to stroke her through the fabric. 

He kept with that as she moved her legs wider and pressed her hips up against his hand. He brought his lips away from her mouth and over to nibble at the lobe of her ear. He paused his movements and felt her buck up against his hand in protest as he whispered huskily into her ear, "Do you want me to take these off?" 

She responded by lifting her hips up off of the bed to help him and he took that as permission enough to tug the fabric down and out of the way. He pulled himself off of her and rose off of the bed as she kicked her underwear the rest of the way off. When he didn't return to the bed right away, she sat up curiously to watch what he was doing. 

He was throbbing against his jeans, but she was still his first priority as he gently pulled her to the edge of the bed by her legs. Bass dropped to his knees in front of her and his hands moved to her thighs, pushing them apart. He admired the view for a moment before bringing his mouth to her inner thigh and slowly kissed and licked his way upwards. Her hand moved to the back of his head, her fingers tangling in his curls, making it clear that she was not in the mood to be teased any further. 

Still, he hesitated with his face mere centimeters from her wet core and let his breath torment her for a few seconds longer before he finally ran his tongue slowly along her center. Her grip tightened as she pulled him closer to her by the hair. 

He obliged and his tongue darted into her folds. She let out a soft gasp and her fingers tugged roughly on his curls. He took that as encouragement and brought his hand over to trace patterns over her clit. 

Charlie's pants and moans were like music to his ears. When he pulled away and she let out an unintended whimper at the loss of contact, a wide grin formed on his lips. 

"Don't worry," he murmured. "I'm not done with you yet." 

His hand moved back to touch her again as he ran his fingers along her dripping folds, getting his digits nice and wet, before he slowly darted a finger into her. He slowly began to work it in and out of her, but she protested against his pace by bucking her hips up against his hand. 

He put a quick stop to that by placing his other hand on her lower abdomen to hold her still, then obliged her by inserting another finger, this time moving much faster than he had with just one. As she let out a grunt of pleasure, a chuckle fell from his lips. The air from that breath teased her even further and she tried futilely to swivel her hips upwards against him. 

Bass took the hint and ducked his head down to roll his tongue over her clit, tenderly probing at it, before taking it into his mouth. It was clear that she was already close, so he stepped up his game, picking up the pace of his fingers as they curled into her. When he nibbled lightly on her bud, she lost control and her body began to clench and spasm around his fingers. 

He let her ride out her high on his digits and waited until she was done writhing to finally remove them. 

As she lay flat on her back, trying to catch her breath and still recovering from her orgasm, she turned her head to peer down at him and found him cleaning her juices from his hand with his tongue. Once he noticed her watching, he brought his tongue back to her core and slowly licked her clean. 

When he pulled away again, she sat up and dragged him onto the bed with her. She tasted herself on his tongue as her hands moved to push his jeans off of his hips, this time successfully. He rolled off of her to shed down the rest of the way and she took the opportunity to take over, bringing her body on top of his as she moved to kiss him. 

He kissed back and everything about his movements demonstrated a hunger for control as his hands moved to her hips, his fingers digging roughly into her flesh. As she moved to come up for air, Bass suddenly flipped them over so that he was on top. She let out a laugh of surprise against his chest as he pushed himself up on his elbows to hover over her. 

As he moved past her to reach for something in the drawer of the bedside table, she half-teased, "Am I going to catch something from this?" 

He turned his gaze on her, condom still in hand, and told her, "No, I'm clean." 

"Then we don't need that," she insisted as her hand moved to his, opening it so that the condom fell back into the drawer. 

"Somehow I don't think me getting you pregnant with a litter of extraordinarily attractive children would go over well with your family," he insisted. "Miles would probably change his mind about not having to kill me." 

"A litter? What am I a dog?" She questioned. "I'm on the pill, dumbass." 

"Well, alright then," he responded with a grin before moving back towards her. 

* * *

Charlie woke up the next morning to the sound of her phone ringing from yet another call from her mother. She hit the ignore button and noticed that it was earlier than either of them usually got up, yet the other side of the bed was empty. She felt a sinking feeling in her chest, but pushed that down as she got out of the bed. She figured he must have just gotten out of bed early. 

That excuse managed to put her mind somewhat at ease until she walked out of the bedroom to find the rest of the apartment just as vacant. She couldn't believe she had actually been stupid enough to let Sebastian Monroe trick her into his bed, just like any of his other conquests. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rarely write smut so let me know what you think and sorry if this turned out terrible.


	15. Chapter 15

Charlie was out of the shower and dressed, but had no idea of where she was going to go. Her mom and Miles both would just rub salt in the wound, but she sure as hell wasn't going to stay there or go in to work where she would have to deal with Bass and Miles. How had she let Bass turn her into the one-night stand she had insisted that she would never be for him? 

She realized then just how right her mother had been with her extensive lecturing. She had thought it had been over-kill, but after the extended act he'd pulled on her just to get her out of her pants she knew that she should have listened closer. 

After all, she had thought that he must care about her because he was letting her stay there. That had been stupid too, she realized. She had shown up announced asking to stay over and he had let her, probably in the hopes of getting laid. Even after that he had probably just been letting her stay there because he figured if he let her sleep in the same bed as him, eventually she would feel obligated to give him something in return. And she had proven him right. 

She was just heading for the door of the apartment, keys in hand, when that door opened. 

"I thought you'd be out until I got back," Bass commented as he stepped through the doorway with a coffee tray in one hand and a bag of food in the other. He noticed what was in her hand then and smirked a little as he added, "Didn't think you'd be the one running off in the morning. Apparently Miles should have been warning me about you." 

" _You're_ the one who ran off," she countered. 

"To go get breakfast," he pointed out. He sounded greatly amused at her expense as he asked, "What? Did you think I just ran off and decided to desert my own apartment until I thought you'd taken the hint?" 

She opened her mouth to protest, but nothing quite came out. When several seconds passed without her coming up with a response, he let out a hearty chuckle. 

"Good to know you have such a high opinion of me," he teased. "And that you're so ready to bolt." 

"I guess I'm stuck with you now that you found me trying to escape," she responded in an amused tone as she set her keys down on the table. 

"I guess so," he agreed. "You hungry? I figured you must be after all those calories we burned last night." 

She rolled her eyes at him before responding, "I'm starving." 


	16. Chapter 16

"I can't keep avoiding my mom forever," Charlie pointed out. "I have to go talk to her today. Make her realize she was wrong." 

Bass turned his head to look at her without lifting it from the pillow as he told her, "You could still stay here, even if she does realize." 

"You want me to live here?" She questioned. 

"You kind of already do," he pointed out. 

"Yeah, but that was always temporary," she countered. "Are you talking permanent?" 

"We already got used to living together, so why not?" He asked as a playful smirk formed on his lips. "Already sick enough of living with me?" 

"I've been sick of living with you since the first night," she teased before bringing her lips to his. "I'll think about it." 

With that she pulled away and got up from the bed. The only thing that kept Bass from complaining was the view as she walked to grab a set of clothes. Once she started to actually pull them on though, he found something else to complain about. 

"Can't you leave those off?" He grumbled. 

"You're right. I should just go to see my mom while I'm still naked," Charlie retorted. "That'll work real well at stopping the fight." 

"Go later," Bass told her. "Keep your clothes off and stay here now." 

"You have to go meet Miles anyways," Charlie pointed out. "Besides, I want to get this over with before I change my mind." 

Bass reluctantly sat up as he agreed, "Fine, but those are coming back off later." 

* * *

Charlie walked into her house with the hope that her mom would be home, along with the hope that she'd be in a good mood. 

She found her mom in the kitchen and slowly walked into the room to sit down across from her at the table. 

"Charlie," her mom said in a surprised tone. "What are you doing here?" 

Charlie was relieved that her mother didn't sound angry that she was there and instead just seemed surprised. She hoped that was a good sign. 

"Are things over with him?" Rachel asked when her daughter hesitated. 

"No," Charlie responded. "I'm here because I don't want to be fighting about this anymore. I've been staying with him and things are going well. I'm not just some one-night stand." 

"I've been waiting for you to come back, Charlie," Rachel told her. "When I told you to stay away from him or leave, I didn't think that you'd actually go and not turn back." 

"I'm not staying away from him, Mom," she responded. 

"You can still come back. I never meant to actually throw you out." 

Charlie looked down at the kitchen table as she admitted, "Bass wants me to stay at his place and actually move in." 

"What do you want, Charlie?" Her mother asked. 

"I want us to be on speaking terms again," Charlie told her. "But I'm staying at his place." 

Rachel knew that there was no way that she was going to be able to outmatch her daughter's strong will and she had learned that ultimatums were not going work. She didn't want to go back to the way things had been ever since she had found out that there was something going on between her daughter and the model, so she saw no real choice in the matter as she responded, "We could do that." 

"Really?" Charlie asked as a wide smile tugged at her lips. 

"Really," her mother responded with maybe a hint of reluctance. 

* * *

By the time that Charlie got back to the apartment, Bass had already beaten her home. A smirk formed on his lips when he noticed the bag that she was carrying. 

"Does that mean that you're staying here?" He asked. 

"I kind of already was," she retorted, mimicking his response from that morning. "But I'm here for good now." 

"Does that mean that you're finally going to unpack your first bag?" He teased. 

"I'll go do it now," she responded. 

She moved to walk towards the bedroom, where her other bag still remained half-packed, but he turned and grabbed her around the waist from behind to stop her. His voice was husky in her ear as he suggested, "Or you can unpack later." 

"That works too," she agreed before turning in his arms to bring her lips to his. 

_The End_


End file.
